Friday, December 15th 2017

Excerpt: Dr. Claudia Valeggia of Yale University joins me for a wonderful conversation about biological and cultural variation in the experience of the postpartum period.

Summary: I was so pleased to welcome Dr. Valeggia to PERIOD Podcast! Her research program takes a biocultural approach, that is, the interplay between biological and cultural variables takes a central role in her work to understand how and why women’s bodies vary the way they do. She works with indigenous populations in northern Argentina, her country of origin.

Our conversation ranged from what it’s like to work with the Qom, the indigenous population that is the focus of her work, to her early publications on the concept of “lactational amenorrhea” (which she describes very well in the episode). We also discussed some of the different ways cultures handle the postpartum period. Many non-US cultures recognize the postpartum period as a time of change and healing. Today’s title refers to one practice where men are not supposed to resume sex with their wives until the baby can walk. This is a practice that helps with birth spacing, and also recognizes the work of an early postpartum, breastfeeding mother, not to mention the ways in which her body (and likely mind) need to heal from the experience.

Dr. Valeggia in the field, with Estefania, a Qom girl.

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Kathryn B. H. Clancy, PhD.
Photo by Fred Zwicky.

Kate Clancy is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois. Kate's research has an intersectional feminist biology approach, focusing on topics ranging from gender and racial harassment in science to the effects of environmental stressors on endometrial and ovarian dynamics.

She has additional appointments in the Beckman Center for Advanced Science & Technology, the Program for Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation, and the Women and Gender in Global Perspective Program.